


What Choice Do I Have

by AllGrey



Series: The World is Going Up in Flames [2]
Category: Sleeping Dogs
Genre: Extortion, Gen, Poor Coping Methods, Triad Only AU, Violence, but like two short mentions of it, death mention, is wei shen/revenge a ship bc, sliding from brooding to disassociating like a boss
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-21
Updated: 2017-01-21
Packaged: 2018-09-18 21:40:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 836
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9404051
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AllGrey/pseuds/AllGrey
Summary: Wei's going to get revenge. But he's gotta do other things to get there first.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This is the one I might expand.. maybe. This whole series though, is gonna be an AU. Instead of joining the police to take down Dogeyes, Wei joins the Triad only.  
> This part's only a little longer than the last one, but hey, I'm making progress. The title comes from NIHILS- Not A Man of Violence.

“A man without a pork bun in his hand is half a man!” The pork bun vendor yells to the night market at large.  
Wei’s busy eating roast duck, tucked into a corner behind some stalls. Winston has him extorting again. Most of these people have families they need to keep afloat. And he’s taking their money to “protect” them.  
  
He thinks of what his mom would say, if she were here, seeing him do everything she tried to get him away from. He fought a guy the other day, for taking away one of Winston’s “customers”. Broke his nose, and his arm in two places. He was one of Dogeyes’ but… He doesn’t think that’d make his mom any happier with him.  
  
It’s not like taking them to America had helped. There’s gangs everywhere, and there’s poor people too. And drugs enough for...  
  
And that’s why he was back here. Dogeyes would pay. No matter what it took.  
  
Winston was the key. He and Dogeyes had been close, but that was changing. And if Wei could be here when shit hit the fan, then he could make sure Dogeyes would fucking hurt. No matter what it took. He didn’t have much to lose at this point anyway.  
  
So he’d do what it’d take. Lounge around at the Night Market, looking threatening. Hit what Winston wanted him to hit, take all the dirty jobs he needed to do to be trusted. To be invaluable to the Waterstreet Gang. As long as he could aim his crosshairs on Dogeyes in the end, it would be worth it. Even if he didn’t make it in the end.  
  
Of course, every time he thought something like that, his mom’s face would flash in front of his eyes, with the expression she had worn after they came home from Mimi’s funeral. The devastation.  
  
He swallowed dryily. He wouldn’t die if he could help it. But...but getting revenge for them mattered more to him than what he had to do along the way. More than the cuts on his knuckles and more than taking a little money here and there.  
  
He can do this. He can.  
  
He spends an indeterminable amount of time after that, his thoughts not fully sitting in his head, staring at his duck. He doesn’t feel attached to himself, or to where he is. He’s a thousand miles away, not even thinking of anything in particular, not even reliving anything.  
  
“A man without a pork bun in his hand-” The pork bun guy starts again, and Wei jerks.  
  
He’s suddenly back inside his head, and feels a little disoriented from the shift.  
  
His food’s a little unappetizing now.  
  
He sighs and throws it in the trash as he leaves his corner, walking towards one of the knock-off shirt sellers.  
  
“Here, sir, let’s get you a-” She double takes. “O-oh. You’re one of Winston’s?”  
  
Her voice is thin and nervous. It makes him uncomfortable.  
  
“No need to get afraid, ma’am. I’m just here for this week’s protection money.”  
  
“Of c-course! Here,” she reaches into a lockbox that sits behind her chair, “this is enough, right?”  
  
The skin between his shoulders itches as he counts. She’s got the right amount, thank god.  
  
“Yeah, this is good. See, no need to worry.” He puts on a reassuring smile.  
  
The woman laughs nervously at him, eyes looking anywhere at else. The itch hasn’t gotten better.  
  
“Alright. Have a nice night, ma’am.” He leaves, and heads to exit the Night Market.  
  
The sounds and colors are usually comforting, but right now they’re stifling. Guilt is dogging his every step and his mother’s face with tears streaming down it is behind his eyelids every blink.  
  
He needs to- to fight someone. Get his mind off this.  
  
He pauses, standing at the bottom of the steps that lead into the Night Market, thinking. He knows there are a couple of fighting rings within walking distance, but a lot of those men are desperate for money. He doesn’t want the guilt to get worse.  
  
He heads for a club instead. It’s dark and loud, almost as stifling as the Night Market. It only takes him five minutes to find some guy leaning in too close to a girl who looks uncomfortable.  
  
He smashes the guy’s head into the bar. The girl screams in surprise, but before he can calm her, two of the guy’s friends are standing up and yelling.  
  
He breaks one of their arms, knocks them both out and only gets a bloody lip for the trouble. He turns to apologize to the girl, but she’s ran off. The bartender’s yelling something about him leaving, so he does.  
  
He steps out into the night, and feels cleaner with the cold air hitting him and the adrenaline still pumping. The guilt has left, for now.  
  
He’s still gotta drop off the money at the Golden Koi though, so he turns that way instead of towards his apartment.  
  
He can do this. He can.


End file.
